works and lives Kouvola, Finland and in Berlin, Germany.
eeva-liisa.puhakka(at)iki.fi

Eeva-Liisa Puhakka is an interdisciplinary artist working in mediums that include kinetic sculptures, video, installations, bio art and olfactory art. Puhakka was a founding member of Scent Club Berlin, a collective of artists, designers and scientists working in and between scents and smells and these fields of practice.

Her passion for nature and the environment led her first to pursue a degree in environmental and water engineering. However, feeling uneasy with the corporate agendas prevalent in consulting work, she transitioned to art. Motivated by her fascination with intersection of art and other disciplines, she embarked on a journey to expand her horizons further and pursued a master’s degree in media arts. Over the past years, she has dedicated her research and artistic practice to exploring the olfactory problems/language/realms, human-nonhuman relationships, investigation of human and animal dependence, rural depopulation and biodegradable materials.

EDUCATION
2009 MFA, media art, Valand School of Fine Arts, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
2001 MSc, environmental engineering, Helsinki University of Technology, Finland.

PRIZES
2019 Artist of Kouvola city 2020-22
2017 Shortlisted to Below Zero Art Prize, London, UK
2015 WRO Resume exhibition, the best of biennale 2015, Wroclau, Poland, Collaboration with Katrin Caspar.

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2026 HAA gallery, Helsinki, Finland
2025 Ars Libera, Kuopio, Finland.
2025 Gallery Pimento, Oulu, Finland.
2025 Gallery Uusi Kipinä, Lahti, Finland.
2024 Studio Mältinranta, Tampere, Finland.
2023 Oksasenkatu11, Helsinki, Finland.
2021 Kouvolan taidemuseo/ Art museum, Kouvola, Finland.
2021 Turku kunsthall. Turku. In collaboration with Jonne Pitkänen.
2020 Vrijhof Cultuur, Enschede, Netherlands.
2017 BcmArte gallery, Kleiner Salon, Berlin, Germany.
2016 Galleri Box, Göteborg, Sweden. Collaboration with Katrin Caspar.
2014 Liebig12, Berlin, Germany. Collaboration with Katrin Caspar.
2014 Titanik gallery, Turku, Finland.
2014 Huuto gallery, Helsinki, Finland.
2014 Gallery Kampen Visningsrum, Oslo, Norway. Collaboration with Katrin Caspar.
2011 00130Gallery Project Room, Helsinki, Finland.

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025
Outsider Art festival, Helsinki, Finland.
Hehku, Artcenter Antares, Kouvola, Finland.

2024
Lux Sippola, light art exhibition, Art center Antares, Kouvola, Finland.

2023
Earth moves exhibition, Art Center Antares, Finland.

2022
Forest 22 exhibition, Kouvola Art Museum, Finland.
Wasteland Festival. Kouvola, Finland.2022

2021
Haihatus, summer exhibition, Joutsa, Finland.
Festival für Selbstgebaute Musik, Berlini, Germany.
Light Festival, Kouvola, Finland.

2020
Meijerin metsä, environmental art exhibition, Kouvola, Finland.
10 years anniversary show, Kouvola Art Museum, Finland.

2019
Nakanojo Biennale 2019, Japan.
SeMA Nanji, Seoul, South Korea.
ZK/U, Berlin, Germany.
Art center East, Lappeenranta, Finland.

2018
Emerge/ncy, Transmediale Vorspiele2018, Berlin, Germany.
Luftlinie /28. Kunstschau, Mecklenburg Vorpommern, Germany.
Zamek Valek, Karlovarský Kraj,Tsekki
Arosita gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria.
Pyhäniemi2018, Hollola, Finland.
Antares Art center, Kouvola, Finland.
Holo sounds 4, Hohenlockstedt, Germany.

2017
Top Schillerpalais, Berlin, Germany.
Kutscherhaus Recklinghausen, Germany.
Ars Sippola, Antares, Kouvola, Finland.
Process Space Art Festival, Ruse, Bulgaria.
Dada post, Berlin, Germany.
At This Point In Time, Edinburgh, Scotland.

2016
Via media art festival, Maubeuge, France. Collaboration with Katrin Caspar.
Exit media art festival, Creteil, France. Collaboration with Katrin Caspar.
Artists without borders, Castle Wolkersdorf, Austria.
Grey Cube galleries, Helsinki, Finland. Collaboration with Katrin Caspar.
10th Water tower art festival, Sofia, Bulgaria.
Artists without borders, gallery Karşı Sanat, Ankara, Turkey.
Artists without borders, Consulate General of Austria, Istanbul, Turkey.

2015
Cairo Video Festival, Cairo, Egypt.
Piksel festival, Bergen, Norway. Collaboration with Katrin Caspar.
Gallery Poriginal, Pori, Finland.
Deep Trash: The Animal Farm, London, UK.
One night stand, gallery KW, Berlin, Germany. Collaboration with Katrin Caspar.
Cultivating Cultures, audiovisual festival, Lviv, Ukraine. Collaboration with Katrin Caspar.
WRO Resume exhibition, best of biennale 2015, Wroclau, Poland, Collaboration with Katrin Caspar.
Landscape-Metropolis exhibition, Schöneweide, Berlin, Germany.
Water tower art festival, Sofia, Bulgaria.
WRO Media Art Biennale, Wroclau, Poland. Collaboration with Katrin Caspar.
Digital Art exhibition, Helsinki, Finland.

2014
Gallery SIM, Reykjavik, Iceland.
The IT Show: An Interactive Art Exhibit, Berlin, Germany.
Kunsthalle Porvoo, Finland.
Wasteland festival, Kouvola, Finland.
Ars Lieke 2014, Kouvola art museum, Finland.
Open house, WAAW residency, St Louis, Senegal.

2013
Bronx World Film, NYC, US.
Environmental art exhibition LARU13, Helsinki, Finland.
Wasteland festival, Kouvola, Finland.
Environmental exhibition, Vartiosaari, Helsinki, Finland.
Eco art exhibition and residency, Kronstadt, Russia.
Environmental art exhibition Ars Sippola, Kouvola, Finland.
Athens Slingshot, GA, USA.

2012
Environmental art exhibition LARU12, Helsinki. Finland.
Environmental art camp and exhibition, Tolstjakovo, Russia.
Ostrale12, international contemporary art exhibition, Dresden, Germany.
Wasteland festival, Kouvola. Finland.
Ateljehof Kreuzberg, Berlin. Germany.

MEMBERSHIP
2024- The association of Finnish Sculptors
2020- Art association Antares, chairperson 2023-2025
2017 – Kouta ry
2017 – 2020 Scent club Berlin
2015- 17 Smell Lab, Spektrum, Berlin
2011 – MUU ry, Finnish interdisciplinary artist association
2011 – Laru ry, Environmental Art Association

CURATORIAL
2025 Curator, LiveArt event, Art Center Antares Finland.
2023 Curator, producer Earth moves exhibition and co-curator LiveArt event, Art Center Antares, Finland.
2022 Curator (art and performances) Wasteland festival, Kouvola, Finland.
2019 Co-curator, Kouta 10 years exhibition in Kouvola art museum, Finland.
2018 Curator, Deliver us from evil exhibition, Art Center Antares, Kouvola, Finland.
2017 Member of production and curatorial teams in Nordic Environmental Art and Science Symposium, Helsinki.
2015 Assistant curator, Landscape-Metropolis exhibition, Berlin.
2015 Curator, the video collection, LARU art.
2014 Assistant curator, Ars Lieke 2014 exhibition in Kouvola art museum.
2014 Curator, the video screenings to Wasteland festival, Kouvola.

EXHIBITIONS & PROJECTS / Scent Club Berlin
2018 Performative exhibition in collaboration with sound artist Elsa M’Bala, Outbound, KuLe, Berlin.
2018 ( ) Whole Space. Installation of smell of empathy. MMOMA Moscow. Russia.
2018 Guided Smell Tour and workshops in Welt ohne Aussen group exhibition, Martin Gropius Bau, curated by Tino Sehgal and Thomas Oberender.
2018 Guided Smell Tour of Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, Germany
2018 Smells Like Home, Wir! Eine Welt Gemeinschaft, Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg Museum, Berlin, Germany

EXHIBITIONS & PROJECTS / Smell Lab Berlin
2017 Smell Me, Smell You, Polytech Festival, Moscow, Russia
2016 Smell Me, Smell You, STATE Festival, Berlin, Germany

RESIDENCIES
Kirkenes & Vadso, Norway. 2025.
ZK/U Berlin, Germany. 2023-24 (6 months) and 2025 (2 months).
HIAP, Helsinki, Finland. 2022-23 (13 months).
ARE, Enschede, Netherlands. 2020.
Montemero, Spain. 2020.
SeMA (Seoul Museum of Art), Seoul, Korea. 2019.
Arenys de Mar, Barcelona. Spain. 2019.
Circolo Scandinavo, Rome, Italy. 2018.
Sofia, Bulgaria. 2018.
Can Serrat, Barcelona. 2017-2018.
Obras, Portugal. 2016.
Edinburgh, UK. 2015
SIM, Reykjavik, Iceland 2014-2015.
WAAW, Saint Louis, Senegal. 2014
SERDE, Latvia. 2013.
Kronstadt, Russia. 2013.
Sfakiotes Residency Programme, Greece. 2011 and 2012.